Written Answers Wednesday 18 July 2007

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will be in a position to give a timescale for secondary legislation under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Richard Lochhead: The first tranche of secondary legislation dealing with pet dealers, animal sanctuaries, travelling circuses, electric shock collars, pet vending (including internet sales), and livery yards will be introduced over the next two years. The Scottish Executive also plans to make secondary legislation which will revise existing regulations on riding establishments, cat and dog boarding, dog breeding, the sale of dogs and performing animals during the following two years.

Animal Welfare

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pig, sheep, dairy cattle, beef cattle, poultry (broiler chickens, ducks and turkeys), laying hen and other farmed animal units in Scotland received farm animal welfare inspections by Animal Health (formerly the State Veterinary Service) in 2006 and the first six months of 2007.

Richard Lochhead: I have asked Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive of the Animal Health Agency to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The percentages of farm animal units inspected by Animal Health (formerly the State Veterinary Service) in 2006 and the first six months of 2007 are summarised in the following table.

  

 
2006
2007


Pigs
7
4


Sheep
1.7
1


Dairy cattle
1.4
1.2


Beef cattle
2.2
2.3


Poultry
1
0.5


Laying hen
0.5
0.4


Other
1.6
0.7

Animal Welfare

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce legislation on compulsory micro-chipping of dogs and whether the health implications for dogs have been considered.

Richard Lochhead: The Executive has no plans to introduce legislation to make micro-chipping of dogs compulsory. There is existing legislation which makes it compulsory for dogs, when in a public place, to wear a collar with the name and address (including postcode) of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. This is aimed to ensure that lost dogs can be returned to their owners.

  Micro-chipping has no adverse implications on the health of dogs.

British-Irish Council

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive who will represent it at the British-Irish Council meeting in July 2007.

Linda Fabiani: The First Minister represented Scotland at the British-Irish Council on 16 July.

Cancer

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many women (a) were diagnosed with and (b) died from breast cancer in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) parliamentary constituency.

Nicola Sturgeon: Data on newly diagnosed cancers in Scotland are recorded on the Scottish Cancer Registry. The most recent year of data currently available is 2004.

  Data on deaths in Scotland are recorded by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The most recent year of data currently available is 2005.

  More comprehensive data on breast cancer can be found on the Scottish Health Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/cancer.

  The following tables (which have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre) present the information requested.

  Table a (i) Incidence (number of registrations) of female breast cancer (ICD-10 C50) by NHS Board Area of Residence, 2000-04. (Bib. number 43171).

  Table a (ii) Incidence (number of registrations) of female breast cancer (ICD-10 C50) by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency, 2000-04. (Bib. number 43172).

  Table b (i) Mortality (number of death registrations) from female breast cancer (ICD-10 C50) by NHS Board Area of Residence, 2001-05. (Bib. number 43173).

  Table b (ii) Mortality (number of death registrations) from female breast cancer (ICD-10 C50) by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency, 2001-05. (Bib. number 43174).

Cycling

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cyclist casualties have been treated by the NHS in each of the last five years in each NHS board area.

Nicola Sturgeon: Cyclist casualties could be treated in a number of health care settings e.g. GP practices; hospital accident and emergency departments or as hospital admissions.

  It is not possible to identify cyclist casualties in GP practices or accident and emergency departments from centrally held data.

  Details on the number of continuous stays in an acute general hospital where the diagnosis information indicates that the patient was a pedal cyclist, injured in a transport accident, is given in a document Table 1: Hospital stays for injured pedal cyclists a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43168).

Education

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-790 by Maureen Watt on 19 June 2007, whether ministers offer guidance to schools on the distinction between recruitment to the armed forces headed up by the Army recruitment team and other careers information.

Maureen Watt: The Executive offers no such guidance.

Fisheries

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received on the conservation of sharks, skates and rays in Scottish waters; whether it believes that spurdog and beagle sharks are under serious threat, and whether it will consider calling for a zero total allowable catch on the resident shoal of spurdog.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Executive has received a number of representations concerning the conservation of sharks, skates and rays.

  As regards spurdog, I do not believe that a zero total allowable catch is the most effective measure to protect this stock. I would prefer to see the 5% bycatch limit that currently exists in the North Sea applied across all waters in the North East Atlantic. This would avoid unnecessary discarding whilst preventing any targeted fishery on this stock.

Gaelic

Alasdair Allan (Western Isles) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it anticipates that an appointment will be made to the post of Chief Executive of Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

Linda Fabiani: Bòrd na Gàidhlig is actively pursuing the appointment of a new Chief Executive and the Scottish Executive is in close contact with the Bòrd as it progresses this matter. The Scottish ministers and Bòrd na Gàidhlig recognise the importance of making a high quality appointment to this pivotal Gaelic development role and are working toward that end as quickly as possible.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total legal costs of processing compulsory treatment orders were in (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006, broken down by NHS board.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) collect data about mental health costs under the generic category of "Mental Health". Accordingly, the levels of expenditure provided by SLAB cover all mental health issues, although a significant amount of that cost will cover Advice and Assistance (A&A) and/or Assistance by Way of Representation (ABWOR) for compulsory treatment orders or their precursors under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 (1984 Act). SLAB do not hold separate figures for compulsory treatment orders and do not split legal costs by NHS boards.

  The following is the A&A and ABWOR legal costs for "Mental Health" provided by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Legal costs for compulsory treatment orders are covered from date the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 came into effect (5 October 2005) to 31 March 2006. The period prior to 5 October 2005 provides mental health legal costs that occurred under the 1984 act.

  In 2005-06:

  Advice and Assistance - Mental Health - £783,000.

  ABWOR - Mental Health - £807,000.

  In 2004-05:

  Advice and Assistance - Mental Health - £604,000.

  ABWOR - Mental Health - £805,000.

  In 2003-04:

  Advice and Assistance - Mental Health - £329,000.

  ABWOR - Mental Health - £737,000.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients had their operations cancelled (a) twice, (b) three times, (c) four times and (d) more than four times in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The specific information requested is not available centrally.

  Limited information is available centrally on the number of in-patient/day case episodes where operations/procedures were not carried out following admission.

  A table of information, and appropriate notes on interpretation, are given in a document Table 1: Cancelled operations by Health Board of treatment a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43167).

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people stayed in hospital overnight on Christmas Day in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board area.

Nicola Sturgeon: The requested information is presented in the following table.

  Number of Patients who Stayed in a Non-Obstetric, Non-Psychiatric Hospital Overnight on Christmas Day (see note 2) in each Year Since 2000; by Health Board of Treatment (including Golden Jubilee national facility).

  

 
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005


Scotland
11,057
11,217
11,363
11,031
10,823
10,662


Argyll and Clyde
941
956
848
825
857
822


Ayrshire and Arran
749
775
720
747
779
766


Borders
231
290
271
268
246
285


Dumfries and Galloway
214
249
273
238
239
200


Fife
551
565
547
546
537
557


Forth Valley
468
476
487
465
488
475


Grampian
1,178
1,131
1,212
1,107
1,127
1,117


Greater Glasgow
2,413
2,385
2,559
2,549
2,302
2,348


Highland
486
464
541
547
521
506


Lanarkshire
985
1,140
1,107
1,091
1,032
1,020


Lothian
1,659
1,635
1,646
1,601
1,681
1,548


National Facility3
-
-
10
2
2
3


Orkney Islands
25
38
39
30
35
32


Shetland Islands
39
29
24
22
23
24


Tayside
1,014
980
989
897
877
867


Western Isles
104
104
90
96
77
92



  Source: SMR01 linked database.

  Notes:

  1. These statistics are derived from the linked database containing linked discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) records in Scotland.

  2. Overnight on Christmas day is defined as being admitted to hospital on or before the 25 December and being discharged from hospital on or after the 26 December in each year.

  3. Golden Jubilee Hospital

  4. Please note it is possible that a patient may appear in more than one year.

  5. Figures in these tables may not correspond exactly with figures released previously. This is because databases are continually updated and corrected.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were admitted to hospital suffering from hypothermia in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The number of continuous stays with a diagnosis of hypothermia over the last five years is presented by NHS board in table 1 and by age in table 2.

  Table 1. Number of Continuous Stays1,2 Discharged with a Diagnosis of Hypothermia3 by NHS Board of Residence; for Financial Years 2001-02 to 2005-06

  

NHS Board
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06


Argyll and Clyde
27
16
16
25
24


Ayrshire and Arran
26
26
16
27
24


Borders
2
-
1
3
3


Dumfries and Galloway
10
2
8
6
5


Fife
10
12
7
18
15


Forth Valley
4
15
8
12
8


Grampian
23
24
21
24
22


Greater Glasgow
27
31
27
26
23


Highland
21
23
28
16
24


Lanarkshire
4
7
12
11
10


Lothian
8
25
17
17
19


Orkney
7
6
3
1
3


Shetland
4
2
5
1
4


Tayside
22
31
12
16
12


Western Isles
6
1
1
3
2


Scotland
201
221
182
206
198



  Notes:

  These figures are derived from linked records on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

  A continuous stay is an unbroken period of time that a patient spends in hospital. A patient may change consultant, significant facility, specialty, hospital and/or provider unit during a continuous stay.

  Up to six diagnoses (one primary, five secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses were used to select for hypothermia. The following code was used from the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD10): T68.-.

  - denotes a zero value.

  Table 2: Number of Continuous Stays1,2 Discharged with a Diagnosis of Hypothermia3 by Age Group; for residents of Scotland; for Financial Years 2001-02 to 2005-06

  

Age Group
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06


0-14
8
12
8
6
5


15-24
21
18
15
15
18


25-44
31
27
28
31
43


45-64
44
61
48
49
35


65-74
33
32
20
33
25


75-84
22
37
37
44
39


85+
42
34
26
28
33


All Ages
201
221
182
206
198



  Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01), Ref: IR2007-01629.

  Notes:

  These figures are derived from linked records on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

  A continuous stay is an unbroken period of time that a patient spends in hospital. A patient may change consultant, significant facility, specialty, hospital and/or provider unit during a continuous stay.

  Up to six diagnoses (one primary, five secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses were used to select for hypothermia. The following code was used from the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD10): T68.-.

Meat Industry

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that imported beef is free of hormones.

Richard Lochhead: The EU does not permit imports of beef from countries permitting the use of hormones. Random testing for hormones is undertaken at Border Inspection Posts when animal products are imported into the EU. The Food Standards Agency also undertakes monitoring at point of retail. I have discussed this with the other UK Agriculture Ministers and the UK will be making representations to the EU Commission. I shall also be writing to the Commission.

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of applications for compulsory treatment orders are processed to completion at (a) first, (b) second and (c) third tribunal.

Shona Robison: The Tribunal’s best current estimate for period 5 October 2005 to 3 July 2007 for proportion of Compulsory Treatment Order applications processed to completion by way of:

  (a) first hearing is 51%;

  (b) second hearing is 35%;

  (c) third hearing is 13%, and

  (d) fourth hearing is 1%.

  We have been monitoring implementation of the act in conjunction with the Mental Welfare Commission, the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and others. I recognise that there are concerns in respect of the processes required under the act and the degree to which they result in multiple hearings, a tendency towards a greater focus on legal process rather than quality of care and the range of participants who may be engaged in each hearing. I am therefore planning to initiate a limited review of the act focussing on the efficiency and quality of the processes in respect of the making of civil orders in the context of the Millan principles. My letter of 17 July 2007 to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43178) provides draft terms of reference for this limited review.

NHS Hospitals

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide comparative details of emergency admission rates to Borders General Hospital for the five-year period prior to the introduction of NHS 24 and in the years since its introduction.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS 24 was introduced to NHS Borders in April 2004.

  The requested information is presented in the following table.

  Emergency Admissions to Borders General Hospital and Crude Admission Rates by Year of Discharge, Years Ending 31 March 2000-06

  

Year
Emergency Admissions2
Population for NHS Borders3
Crude Emergency Admission Rates per 100,000 population4


2000
9,116
105,810
8,615


2001
9,394
106,250
8,841


2002
10,267
106,950
9,600


2003
10,124
107,400
9,426


2004
10,190
108,280
9,411


2005
11,045
109,270
10,108


2006
11,412
109,730
10,400



  Source: SMR01 linked database, GRO population estimates.

  Notes:

  1. NHS 24 was introduced to NHS Borders residents in April 2004. Figures in italics are for the years following introduction.

  2. This is a count of all emergency episodes at Borders General Hospital; excluding transfers.

  3. Population is taken from GRO mid-year estimates of NHS Border Residents

  4. Crude emergency admission rates should be interpreted with caution. Episodes occurring at Borders General Hospital will include a small proportion of patients resident outside of NHS Borders health board area.

NHS Staff

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why there is a delay in national consistency checking for the 1,260 staff of NHS Tayside who have been assimilated on account and when this situation will be resolved.

Nicola Sturgeon: The implementation of Agenda for Change has taken longer than had been anticipated but the volume and complexity of the task of assessing pay for over 140,000 plus staff should not be underestimated. In addition, it was agreed in partnership that the assessment process put in place should be very deliberate and robust, which includes checking outcomes at local level to ensure consistency and then reviewing them at national level to ensure that the job evaluation system is being correctly applied. There was and remains a consensus of view across the health service that key to the successful delivery of Agenda for Change pay was consistency and accuracy of assessment, rather than speed of process.

  Normally, staff would have to go through both the local and national checking processes before they could be assimilated to the new pay bands. However, in order to help conclude implementation of Agenda for Change, in March of this year it was agreed in partnership that staff could assimilate after the local process was completed, with the national process carried out with retrospective effect.

  The national review process continues at a significant pace, and I am pleased to say that we are close to completing the movement of staff to the new pay bands. In this respect, the great efforts that health boards and the trades unions have put in should be acknowledged.

  In terms of NHSScotland as a whole, there are approximately 6,000 postholders still awaiting national review. In the case of NHS Tayside, 929 postholders have been reviewed recently, and the reports on these will be sent to NHS Tayside within the next seven to 10 days. This leaves a total of 98 postholders awaiting national review, and this will take place over the coming weeks.

Recycling

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources it will provide to local authorities, particularly Scottish Borders Council, to assist with recycling.

Richard Lochhead: Scottish Borders Council are currently working with the Scottish Executive to extend their current award from the Strategic Waste Fund for recycling beyond 2009-10 to 2019-20. More generally, we are considering the future resources required for recycling as part of the Strategic Spending Review.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has instructed, or intends to instruct, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) not to permit losses in electricity generation when reviewing hydropower abstraction authorisations under section 18 of the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005.

Richard Lochhead: When conducting any licence review under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities)(Scotland) Regulations 2005 (CAR), SEPA must comply with the procedural requirements established by that regime. It is these due process arrangements that will ensure that an appropriate balance is struck in any particular case between our targets to promote renewable energy (such as hydro-power) and for Scotland’s water environment to be protected for future generations. As such, it would not be appropriate to instruct SEPA not to permit losses in electricity generation when exercising its functions under CAR.

Rural Development

Jim Hume (South of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Rural Development Programme will be submitted to Brussels for approval.

Richard Lochhead: The Scotland Rural Development Programme 2007-13 was submitted electronically during the week ending Friday 22 June.

The Stone of Destiny

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will return the Stone of Destiny to Scone Palace.

Linda Fabiani: The location of the Stone of Destiny is a matter solely for Her Majesty The Queen, as advised by the Commissioners for the Safekeeping of the Regalia.

Waste Management

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) household, (b) commercial and (c) total waste was recycled by each local authority in each of the last three years.

Richard Lochhead: Details on local authority recycling rates up to 2005-06 are available on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) website at:  http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/data/data_digest.htm .

  Data on municipal waste recycled up to June 2006 is also available from the SEPA website at http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/data/returns.htm.